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From left to right: BLIZZARD Lil-G Green, CHAUVET Rogue R1, & ELATION Platinum Spot LED II.
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From left to right: MEGA-LITE Axis 7D5, PR xrLED 1200 Spot, & VARI-LITE VL440.
Moving light technology has changed a lot over the past decade, with new lamp technology and new manufacturers helping to make strides in pricing and capabilities. Small churches, however, have been a bit “out in the cold,” with pricing, size and weight all working against them in making good use of the technology. And lower-cost units have left a bit to be desired in terms of brightness and feature sets.
However, with the rapid changes in the design of moving lights, has the time finally arrived where moving lights can be well utilized in the small- and portable-church market?
“LEDs produce little heat into the front part of a fixture, so it means less cooling is needed, leading to fixtures being smaller and less complex,” explains Mark Ravenhill, president of the U.S. subsidiary of German Light Products (GLP) based in Sun Valley, Calif.
“More efficient motors and higher overall efficiency have brought low-profile moving lights into the small church market,” adds Tyler Wise, national sales manager of lighting products for ElektraLite, distributed by Group One Ltd. in Farmingdale, N.Y. “The improved output and performance of LED technology has also helps greatly, allowing for more light with less heat in a smaller footprint within the fixture.”
“The introduction of more energy-efficient electronic ballasts and discharge lamp packages, as well as high-output LED solutions, have allowed us to manufacture higher-output moving lights in a small package,” says Eric Loader, sales director for Elation Professional in Los Angeles. “This allows churches to buy a powerful enough fixture at an affordable price. And the fact you can put four, six or even eight fixtures on a 15A/120V circuit means you can pretty much use them anywhere. And now with wireless DMX control options, if you don't have the ability or time to run DMX cable from your FOH position to the stage area, you can use wireless to control them.”
More Punch
In the past, small fixtures frequently did not have the light output to make them very effective tools. Improvements in lamp technology, however, are working to change that reputation.
“If installed in the correct positions,” says Ravenhill, “you'll get great performance. Smaller moving lights can still pack a punch of color, and it's all about getting a good balance between any effect lighting and your key video lighting. But some thought definitely needs to go into the hanging positions before they get installed.” Utilizing an experienced lighting design professional will help ensure you invest in fixtures that are appropriate to needs, and are installed in a location to give you the maximum effect from that investment.
While LED lighting has helped with reducing the cost of entry, maintenance and operation of moving lights, Daryl Sutton, house of worship market manager for Martin Professional in Sunrise, Fla., cautions about going too low-end. “In cost-effective LED stage lighting fixtures you can anticipate the overall quality of the LED diode to be of a lower standard. This equates to lower output levels as well as a reduction in consistency of color saturation between diodes. There are many other components that go into reducing the cost of a fixture, but the diode cost tends to be the leading factor. That said, there are still many applications that make such units effective and [that] support the vision of leadership.”
Don’t forget that you need an effective way to control moving lights. Many churches also find they need to upgrade their lighting control systems.
Jim Kumorek
Writer & Owner, Spreading Flames Media.
Mike Graham, product manager for moving fixtures for Chauvet Professional, also in Sunrise, Fla., adds, “However, just because you move away from a tungsten light source does not mean you are going to lose any color options. On the contrary, with LED wash lights, the color selection is actually going to be better than using a standard tungsten source simply because of the change of color mixing style. When you have a tungsten or other white-light source, you have to do subtractive color mixing. This means that every time you add more color, you lose output. With LED wash lights, you use additive color mixing. This means that your light sources are using red, green, blue, and sometimes amber or white LEDs, to add colors together to create a certain color. Because of this, your colors will actually be more vibrant than ever before.”
What to Look for
Selecting a moving light can be a daunting experience, with a lot of confusing specs and marketing messages. Here are a few tips on some key items to take into consideration when shopping for fixtures.
“It's really important to understand your lumens,” states Loader. “Small churches usually have 300- to 500-watt PARs which provide around a 6,000-lumen brightness level. You need fixtures that are designed to stand out and punch through these environments by working within the same lumens range. You also want to consider the beam of light the fixture projects, and how many variations into which that beam of light can be manipulated. A very basic moving light has a set beam diameter with a color palette and patterns. A church should consider looking for extra features the moving light might offer to help manipulate that beam of light. Zoom is a great feature to adjust the size of the beam, followed by having an iris. Framing shutters is next, and frost is a nice feature to soften the hard edge of the beam of light. The more features you can get with your moving lights, the more creative the lighting technician can be, resulting in more spectacular lighting looks.”
Loader continues, “If traditional tungsten fixtures are still being used in the church, it is also important to make sure your moving light has a CTO color filter, allowing the beam of light to match the color temperature of traditional tungsten fixtures.” This is especially critical if you are using videos cameras for IMAG or streaming, since color temperature differences are radically exaggerated on video.
“You also want to make sure the unit is ‘flicker-free' on camera (although most are in today's market),” Sutton reports. “Even if you are not capturing video of your services today, you might be in the future, so avoid having to purchase lighting twice if you don't have to. Secondly, if considering LED fixtures, compare the color saturation of the output of the fixtures and pick a unit that has the most even color saturation across the field of the fixture. It is easy to do: simply shine the fixture on a flat white surface and bring the individual color sections up to 100% one at a time. Then, look over the entire field of the area to see how many shades of that color you see. The fewer the shades you see, the more consistent the fixture's color saturation is.”
What to Avoid
Features and color shouldn't be the only consideration, however. “If the housing of the unit feels like it is low quality,” Graham states, “the inner workings most likely are as well.” A fixture that operates noisily may also be an indication of poor quality.
“Sacrificing options you really want and buying products with a poor warranty are two things that churches should avoid,” comments Wise. “But most importantly, buy from a dealer. Buying online is fine for many things, but when it comes to professional lighting, you need the support that comes behind the product for the future. This doesn't happen with a cheap price tag and no support contact.”
Sutton concurs. “Any fixture that does not have local support within the church's region is going to eventually be a problem. It is important to have local technical support to assist in the initial setup of the system as well as for technical repair. You will need local support at some point,” he says. “Make sure you are investing in a product/brand that is able to support your short- and long-term needs.”
Loader adds, “It is never good to sacrifice quality over quantity. What good is it to buy 12 lights if two years later only five will work? It is better to start with a small quantity of good fixtures and build up from there.”
Are you ready?
Adding moving lights to your technical inventory may sound like a great idea. But, have you thought it through to make sure that your church is really ready for stepping up to this level of technology?
While costs have certainly come down, moving lights are still far more expensive than static fixtures. “If you can't afford [the purchase price as well as the ongoing maintenance needs], forecast for it and make it part of your future lighting plan,” Wise suggests. “And make sure you have someone who can run the fixtures, as well. If you don't, [you can get the necessary training] while you're saving to buy the moving lights. High-value training is available from reputable moving light manufacturers and dealers, so don't be afraid to ask your manufacturer or dealer for help.”
And don't forget that you need an effective way to control moving lights. When many churches first obtain moving lights, they also find they need to upgrade their lighting control systems.
“Not only is there the investment in lighting instruments, but you need new control, as well (which is frequently overlooked in the budgeting conversation). In the past, the cost for a solid control solution was half the overall budget. The biggest technology advancement that has helped soften this blow is simply the concept of scalable controller offerings,” Wise adds. Many control manufacturers now offer computer-based solutions that are feature-rich and can grow with you—and that cost significantly less than a complete physical lighting console.
